Real estate veteran Meza Harris departs Lindsey & Associates for Coldwell Banker affiliate

Meza Harris, a residential real estate pillar in Northwest Arkansas for three decades, has switched from one big Northwest Arkansas firm to another.

Harris, a senior vice president and executive broker at Lindsey & Associates in Rogers, now works for Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette (CBHMF). She moved earlier this summer and continues to work with her daughter. They are working as The Meza Harris & Aricka Finger Team.

Finger grew up in the family business and has worked alongside her mother for more than a dozen years. There are more family wrinkles — Pat Harris, Meza Harris’ former husband, is CBHMF’s principal broker and owner. David Harris, their son, maintains his office in the CBHMF building on South 52nd Street in Rogers. He’s a prominent homebuilder in the region and built the building in 2007 — and owns it.

“Pat’s been trying to get us to come over here for two years,” Meza Harris said. “It’s family. I would have never left Lindsey. I love that company and love John David [Lindsey]. He called a couple of days ago to ask how I was doing, and we both started crying.”

A 1962 Bentonville High School graduate, Harris has sold real estate for nearly 30 years, the past 26 for Lindsey & Associates.

She is fond of telling how her real estate career began. If you’ve not heard it, ask Harris to tell the story the next time you see her, and she will.

The Cliffs Notes version is that she needed to find a way to earn a living and pay the bills once her divorce was finalized in the early 1990s.

“When Pat and I divorced, I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’” she recalled. “I was 50 and had never worked before. I was the baby of seven kids who did everything for me, and when I married Pat, he did the same thing. I played tennis and bridge and did all the school activities with David and Aricka.”

Pat Harris and the late Jack McHaney co-founded Harris McHaney Realtors in Rogers in 1976. Meza Harris was the office’s first secretary. The firm merged with the Fayetteville-based Coldwell Banker affiliate in February 2010 and became CBHMF. The firm has offices in Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers.

Harris, 79, has topped the Business Journal’s annual list of top-producing real estate agents more than any other Realtor. In 2022, she had a residential sales volume of $46.69 million, which ranked No. 3 on the list.

“She is a dynamo, and very few outwork her,” said Suzett Sparks, the managing broker of Lindsey & Associates in Rogers. Sparks was Harris’ licensed executive assistant several years ago. “We forged a life-long friendship, and I know the Lindsey family feels the same,” she said.

CBHMF and Lindsey & Associates ranked at the top of the Business Journal’s annual ranking of the largest residential real estate firms published in March. CBHMF claimed the top spot according to data provided by the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors (NABOR). The company’s residential Realtors combined produced a sales volume of $788.13 million in 2022. Lindsey & Associates was No. 2 with $705.17 million.

Harris has the most expensive residential listing right now in Northwest Arkansas.

A five-bedroom, 8,128-square-foot estate home in rural Benton County is on the market for $8 million. It sits on approximately 58 acres east of Arkansas Highway 72 in the Pea Ridge School District, about 6 miles east of downtown Bentonville.

According to the listing, the property has an equestrian arena, a 288-square-foot barn with two horse stalls, a 1,200-square-foot shed/workshop, a four-season greenhouse and raised gardens.

“The massive property offers miles of looping, private hiking, biking or horseback riding trails plus two seasonal creeks with year-round springs,” the listing says. “No expense was spared in this traditional and timeless masterpiece that boasts the first Lacanche French range in Arkansas, custom cabinetry and closets throughout, beautiful wood flooring, three wood burning fireplaces and more.”

The home was built two years ago and has been on the market since July 13. According to property records, the Lockton Revocable Living Trust is the owner.